Customer comments on this Youngstown Ohio Book
 Great read...
God this book was amazing. It took me months to read because it was so dense with information and I kept gaping at the pictures, but it was worth it. The best thing about Frozen in Time was that the anthropologists that excavated the bodies were so emotional about it. The whole book, despite being a scientific account, is so incredibly creepy. One of the creepiest books I have ever read. The contents of this book completely permeated my brain, even after I finished reading the book.
I guess the authors had a distinct advantage by choosing to excavate members of the Franklin expedition. I don't think there are many things that people today are morbidly curious about than cannibalism, and because it was proven to have taken place again and again on this Arctic expedition, reading about the deaths of members of the crew would be captivating regardless of what aspect(s) they were analyzing.
In this book, the major focus was what killed everyone so quickly, and I think the only issue I had with this book is that in the beginning they kind of hinted at lead poisoning, then focused on scurvy for awhile, then went back to lead poisoning, then, FINALLY, in the last chapter or two, analyzed the cans found concluded that lead was the most probably cause, and that contrary to previous belief, it was nearly impossible to die from scurvy that fast when they had limes on board. Despite the occasional digressions, the way the anthropolgists describe the bodies (especially that of John Torrington) is incredibly sincere. Many books published these days are boring, emotionless scientific accounts, with very little feeling mixed in. These scientists were completely consumed with what they were doing. They couldn't get over the sadness and loneliness involved with dying alone in the high Arctic. The fact that these sailors were beyond help, that Torrington was so young (20, I think) inspired extreme amounts of emotion. Just to be working with a 150 year old corpse of a person that died in such loneliness haunted all of the scientists throughout the book.
I guess there's nothing more to say, other than the fact that Frozen in Time is the best scientific account of an Arctic expedition I have ever read, not only because of the sheer morbidity of cannibalism, but because the scientists who wrote it were so sympathetic and filled with emotion.
Gripping and Insightful
I got this book for my birthday this past year and I couldn't put it down once I started reading it. It is a well written account not only of the fate of the Franklin Expedition, but also of the difficulties and many hardships faced by many of the Arctic Explorers of the time. It details the many problems that faced the various crews prior to Franklin's fated expedition and those of the many crews that searched for those 128 men.
The second part of the book tells of Owen Beattie's search for the Fate of those men, and his startling discoveries that showed the most likely cause of the tragedy. From finding the first bones on King Williams Island to excavating the three men on Beechey Island, the second part of the book is just as interesting as the first. Both are tales of discovery and the challenges associated with them.
All in all this book is one of those to spark the interest of anyone interested in Naval History and the history of Exploration. I highly recommend this book.
Excellent research team and analysis
Having had the luxury of actually communicating with Dr. Beattie and his team of their work, I can attest that they carried out their project professionally and with dignity. This is in contrast to many who tried or will try to answer the fate of the 129 (this field of research is ripe with many egos fighting for turf over which theory of their demise is correct, and the "glory" of finding that "holy grail" -- either Franklin's grave or his log books).
Dr. Beattie and team approached this project with a quest to forensically answer what may have killed everyone on the basis of toxic levels of lead found in disarticulated remains on King William Island (Kekertak) in a previous 1981 excavation. At the time they had a theory but needed to prove if the KWI specimens were indeed true or a fluke. Having gotten permission from the Canadian government to exhume the bodies (and after taking considerable time to try to locate relatives to gain permission to exhume the only properly interred remains on Beechey Island -- although not mentioned in the book, John Shaw Torrington appears to be last descendent of his line, having no siblings [his mom died in childbirth]), they proceeded to exhume Torrington and partially Hartnell in 1984. In 1986, with a larger and more technical team of experts, they conducted an even more thorough exhumation (showned very well on Nova's "Buried in Ice" documentary) of Hartnell and Braine.
This book offers a brief history of the 1845-48 Sir John Franklin Northwest Passage Expedition, and goes on to detail the 1981 excavations on King William Island, the 1984 and 1986 Beechey Island exhumations, then concludes with the lab results (further proving that the lead exposure was indeed from the cans, not just the environment). The big mystery still about that finding is if indeed everyone had such high lead levels, or only the sick (who more than likely were fed "better" tinned provisions) were so grossly affected.
Strongly recommend readers in getting this book and deduct the evidence themselves (this book does read like a True Crime novel), then to make up your own mind if the medical evidence is enough to answer the fate of the 129. For who knows, someone out there [you] may indeed have an answer that eluded many for almost 200 years.
[A special thank you to Dr. Beattie, Dr. Amy, Brian Spencerley, and Joelee Nunqag for your communications, insights and materials to flesh out your work. BTW, another photocopy observation -- Recheck Braine's plaque and what I mentioned in a 1993 letter, with the recent copper finding off of KWI. Very much related. :x ]
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